Rubrics

Rubrics are systems of assessment that are organized by criteria and performance indicators. For instance, one can create a rubric for assessing student writing and organize it by criteria such as “Thought Organization,” “Grammar and Mechanics,” and “Persuasiveness.” Once those criteria are described (generally) and set as rows in the rubric, one can then create columns for performance levels such as “No Skill,” Emerging” and “Mastered” … with descriptions and/or points that detail each choice. Rubrics can be attached to grade center items and can be used during the grading process.

Grade History

The Grade History page in the Grade Center acts like a log file that records all of the changes that occur to grades within a course. The Grade History page displays all the data for grade submissions within a set date range.

To view the grade history:

On your Course Site, under the Control Panel, click Grade Center, and then click Full Grade Center.

Using Grading Color Codes

Grading Color Codes change the background and font colors in your Grade Center based on criteria that you set. For example, you can create a Color Code for your Grade Center based on Final Grade performance; the color code could be setup to look for scores of 70% and below in a final grade calculated column and if it finds any, it can be set to change the background color of the cell to orange and the text to black.

With Color Codes active in your Grade Center, you can see, at a glance, any learners that may be in need of additional support.

To create a color code:

Access your Course’s Full Grade Center.

Click on the Manage menu, and choose Grading Color Codes.

Click on the ADD CRITERIA button.

Click on the Criteria drop-down menu and choose either “More Than or Equal To,” “Less Than,” or “Between” … depending upon what you want Blackboard to look for and highlight in the Grade Center view.

Then, choose your range of percentages for the criteria.

Lastly, choose the Background Color of the Cell as well as the Text Color of the Cell. You will see the Indicator Preview change based on your settings in this area. Note: match your background and text colors appropriately so that the data can easily be read. For example, yellow text on a white background is very difficult to read on a screen.

When you are finished setting up your criteria, click on the SUBMIT button.

Note: While in the Grade Center, you can toggle Grading Color Codes “ON” and “OFF” via the HIDE/SHOW Color Codes button in the upper-right of your Full Grade Center view.

Rearranging Column Order & Freezing Columns

Blackboard structures the columns in your Grade Center according to the order in which they were created, regardless of whether they were created manually or automatically. You may change the order in which the columns are arranged, either manually, by title, due date, and other criteria.

To rearrange the columns:

Access your Course’s Full Grade Center.

Click on the MANAGE menu, and choose Column Organization from the choices.

To manually change the order of the columns, click and hold on the icon to the left of a column and drag-n-drop it to where you want it to be. Note: in the Column Organization area, columns are displayed as rows.

You may also click on any of the column headers to automatically sort the columns (i.e. like sorting in Microsoft Excel), by either Name, Grading Period, Category, Due Date, Date Created or Points Possible.

Click the SUBMIT button when you are finished ordering your columns.

To freeze columns:

If you’d like to be able to scroll to the right of your Grade Center WHILE keeping the student last name and first name fields frozen in place (for easier navigation and data-student matching), drag-n-drop any columns you want frozen above the dark grey bar.

Customizing the Grade Center

There are many ways to customize your Grade Center to your liking. For instance, you can customize the Grade Center to show only certain columns, to show color codes, or to freeze certain columns to maintain clearer data scrolling.

Click here to read more about what customization options are available.